A beverage can is generally used with the advantages that the beverage is able to be preserved for a long period of time and it can be used easily, and the beverage can is used for containing soda water, fruit beverage, mixed beverage as well as beer. The beverage can is generally comprised of a cylindrical body made of metallic material such as steel or non-iron metallic material such as aluminum, and an aluminum end seamed on the upper side of the body. The aluminum end is formed with a score line so that the opening of the beverage can is torn easily. Further, a tab for opening the beverage can by pushing the score line is joined on the end.
In order to drink the contents in the beverage can, the score line formed on the end has to be torn by pulling the tab. Then, the beverage in the can is discharged from the outlet formed by the torn score line, so a man can drink the beverage conveniently.
The present invention is related to the manufacturing method for manufacturing a designed tab end of the beverage can that can function as an ornament by applying a design on the tab joined on the end, where the design includes a logo of the beverage brand, an image, advertising words, a suggestive word about the property of the product, a variety of animation characters for the promotion of the product, a caricature of a figure, an image of a fruit in case of a fruit beverage, a logo and a mascot of a sports game, or a logo and a trademark of a company.
As an example of a method of manufacturing a designed tab end, in beverage cans, Korean Patent Application No. 2001-8020 filed and published by the same assignee on Feb. 17 2001 discloses a method for manufacturing a designed tab end by carrying out a tab base color painting process on a tab coil, carrying out a design applying process and a varnishing process and putting the tab into a tab formation process and a conversion pressing process, a stacking process, using a pitch aligning device.
Also, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2001-43268 filed by the same assignee on Jul. 18 2001 discloses a design printing phase adjusting apparatus using a print roll tolerance sensor.
In the above designed tab end formation and manufacturing methods, a design to be printed on the tab coil must be printed in the same interval as the tab formed in a conversion press after the printing process, so that the printed design can be precisely positioned on a sealed-head portion of a target finger hole.
However, in the process of printing a design on the tab coil, fine errors in the intervals of design prints are gradually increased from the initial stage of printing due to the tolerance between prints and the tolerance of a print cylinder roll. Thus, when printing a design of more than a predetermined length, the position of print is deviated from an allowable range, thereby lowering the value of a product. Also, the tab coil must be arranged and put into a conversion press, which may require a long period of time to manufacture a tab.
In a pilot hole for a tab coil and a design printing phase controller without a guide such as a pilot hole in design printing phase alignment and tab formation using the same, after printing a design on a tab coil with a length of several kilometers, the position of the printed design is deviated from the target position of the formed tab when forming the tab coil of more than a predetermined length.